


Worth It

by PurrfectCatastrophe



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mako can't cook
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-30
Updated: 2014-03-30
Packaged: 2018-01-17 12:49:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1388269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurrfectCatastrophe/pseuds/PurrfectCatastrophe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Makoto tries his hand at cooking to make a bento for Rei.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Worth It

**Author's Note:**

> When it comes to cooking I can Mako being either okay or really bad at it. I bounce around with headcanons tho so don't expect me to always write Makoto as a bad cook. 
> 
> Also! I think Mako would be very stubborn when he's doing something from the heart. So he won't ask for help when it comes to doing things for those he loves.

**Ouch!**

Makoto hisses in pain as he jerks away from the hot stove he accidentally touched while distracted. He turns off the boiling pot and rushes to the sink and runs his finger under the cold water before it can get any worse. Tachibana Makoto is more then likely the worlds worst cook. He had gotten the idea to prepare his boyfriend a bento from the manga that Nagisa let him read at lunch. Unfortunately that was the third burn he’s gotten in less than thirty minutes and he’s starting to get a little discouraged. Once the pain starts to fade Makoto removes his hand and dries it off not bothering to turn the water off. At this rate he’ll be back in less than two minutes. He frowns slightly and picks up the cook book again to check the recipe once more. He hums in discontent as he reads the recipe slowly losing his courage to continue.

Frustrated with himself Makoto reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his phone. He opens it and pulls his past messages to Rei. 

_Sent (18:50): Rei! Don’t bring a lunch tomorrow okay?_

_Rei-chan <3 (18:54): I assume that what you have planned is a surprise so I won’t ask why._

_Sent (18:57): Rei is so smart that's one of the reasons I love you so much!_

_Rei-chan <3 (19:00): Here I am thinking it was my dashing good looks that got me this far._

_Sent (19:04): Those helped to <3_

Makoto smiled at the messages warmed by them he sighed and tried to gather his scattered thoughts. He couldn’t give up now. Not when Rei was expecting something from him. He has to push on, for Rei! There’s no backing out early because of a few scrapes and bruises. Renewed with the strength of his love Makoto set his objective to make the butterfly shaped onigiri. First he’d need the rice he had made already. 

**The rice!**

Makoto gasped remembering the rice maker was still running despite having finished cooking the rice long ago. He rushed to the rice maker and found the rice was finished but the bottom had been burned a lot. The smell of burnt rice was strong in the air so he closed the lid quickly and opened a window to clear it out before it could spread any further. He didn’t want anyone walking in on him failing this miserably before even actually getting started.

“Makoto dear is everything okay in here?”

Too late.

Makoto’s mother walked in looking worried expecting to see something on fire but instead finding her son surrounded by food and cooking utensils. She covered her mouth to hide her smile but Makoto already saw it. He blushed heavily at having been caught and lowered his head sadly.

“Are you trying to cook?” She finally asked with a small giggle.

“Yes I’m making a bento for someone.” Makoto explains as he fidgets slightly. God this was so embarrassing! 

“Do you want my help?” His mother offers gently. 

“No thank you! It has to be made by me. I need it to mean something.” Makoto answers passionately. He had to do this by himself. This was something special from him to Rei. Getting help just felt wrong. Is this the type of stubborn pride most of his friends had? His mother gives him a knowing smile at his answer and nods her head. Makoto then realizes how quickly he declined getting help and blushes even more.

“Alright dear, but the offer still stands if you change your mind.” She reminds him as she leaves the kitchen. Makoto thanks his mother for the offer and turns around quickly. He rubs his face willing the blush to go away. Pushing that awful moment aside Makoto moves to salvage what was left of the rice. He scoops it out and puts it into a bowl trying his best to avoid the hard parts. Maybe the Onigiri can wait. Instead he's work on the main course. Makoto grabbed a pan and set it on the stove a little roughly. 

“Alright I can do this.” Makoto whispers to himself trying to stay positive. 

He picks up a garlic clove and set it on its death bed more commonly known as a cutting board. He picks up a knife and begins chopping it as finely as possible. He almost cut himself twice but managed to make it out without any nips. He then gets the onion and begins chopping that to. He wasn’t as lucky this time around with murdering vegetables. He slips up and accidentally cuts his thumb. He yelps in pain and quickly sets the knife down to tend to the wound. He moves to the sink and runs his hand under the water while fumbling for the first aid kit in the self above the sink. He pulls it out and rummages around looking for a band aid to use. Luckily the cut isn't too deep or large. Makoto patches up the cut easily and goes back to chopping without any other accidents.

Once all of that was done he goes to drain the spinach in the pot he burned himself on earlier. Grabbing a drainer he pours the spinach into it almost spilling some into the sink. He runs cold water over it until they cool off and begins squeezing the spinach to drain it of all the water. Makoto sets the spinach aside on a plate and turns on the heat under the pan. He dumps the onions in the pan along with olive oil and attempts to sauté the onions. He squeaks in shock as the garlic goes into the pan along with the onions.

“Oh no.” Makoto sighs. He continues cooking but at the end the garlic is burned slightly due to being added too early. He adds in the spinach and cooks that to trying his best to stay happy about the situation. He forgot to add salt and pepper. Makoto removes the spinach from the pan and sets the now empty pan into the sink. He washes it off and sets it out to dry while he prepped the rest of the main course. Grabbing a bowl Makoto cracks three eggs into it and beats them as he adds soy sauce, ground pepper, and sugar. He spills a bit in the process but fortunately not too much. He doesn’t the notices the eggshells in the mix. 

“Now to actually cook the omelette.” Makoto mutters as he grabs the clean pan. He adds oil in the pan trying not to use too much like last time. He turns the heat up to high like instructions say and pours the egg mixture into the pan. It starts cooking more quickly than he anticipated and he is rushing to add the spinach in. He adds the spinach on top spreading it out unevenly. He adds the rest of the egg and lets it cook more. He attempts to flip it only for the egg to fall apart. He manages to flip it after the fifth try but he ends up burning his hand on the hot pan. 

“AH! Oh no the bottom is burnt!” Makoto gasps in distress. He lets the other side cook while he attends to the newest burn. When he gets back to the pan the omelette is burned on both sides now. He realizes that he didn’t use enough oil and that cooking on high heat is for seasoned cooks. Makoto sets the pan aside after scraping off the omelette onto a plate. He frowns at the food he cooked which is in no way safe to consume. He doesn’t even think about preparing the butterfly onigiri.

He takes a seat at the table and buries his face in his hands. Why was cooking so hard for him? He could write stories for literature class all day if need be. Caring for kittens is no trouble whatsoever. You need something heavy moved? Makoto is there for you. Cooking is just absolutely impossible though. What’s worse was that he’d have to tell Rei what he was planning was cancelled all because he was utterly incompetent in the kitchen. Makoto sucked in a shaky breath trying to calm down. He felt like sobbing but that wouldn’t help anything. Sitting up Makoto looked to the living room where his mother was, most likely reading in her favorite chair. 

‘This is for Rei he’ll appreciate it even if it wasn’t just me who made it right?’ Makoto reasons with himself as he swallows his pride. He slowly walks into the living room looking as if he broke a flower vase or failed a test. Sure enough his mother is there in her chair reading. He stops in front of the chair trying to gain the courage to ask for help. His mother glances up from her book noticing his presence. He looks upset so she waits for him to tell her what was wrong.

“I would greatly appreciate your help.” Makoto says quietly with his head bowed.

“That’s what I’m here for. Let’s go prepare a bento.” His mother says kindly.

\--

“Here you go Rei!” Makoto beams as he hands Rei the bento box wrapped in a purple cloth during lunch. After admitting defeat Makoto and his mother cleared out the inedible food and got to cooking again. Makoto did most of the chopping much to his mother’s distress. He ended up getting almost ten cuts on his hands. He refused to not have any part in preparing the bento and powered through it all. Once it was over and done with Makoto had a bento with a spinach omelette, two butterfly shaped onigiri, and fruit shaped like cats. A beautiful bento fit for the beautiful person receiving it.

Rei lets out a tiny gasp of surprise as he takes the box from his boyfriend. This was first time he had ever received a bento made specially for him. Rei glances down noticing a brightly colored band aid and almost dropped the box at the sight of Makoto’s hands. They were very red and covered with bandages as if a cat had attacked him. Surely all those cuts couldn’t have been from trying to cook the bento?

“M-Makoto your hands.” Rei worried as he set the box safely to the side and took Makoto’s hands in his own. He examined them and counted seven cuts in total. Not to mention the obvious burn marks dotted around his hands. The taller boy blushed at this and fought the urge to pull his hands away. It was so awful having his failures on display like that but Rei holding his hands like that made him feel loved. Rei frowned slightly as he stared at Makoto’s hands, it was sweet that he made the bento but if it meant getting hurt then Rei would rather go without food.

“Please don’t tell me you did all of this for me?” Rei whispers overcome with emotion.

“Ah well the first time didn’t go so well so I had to swallow my pride and ask for help. I hope that doesn’t demean the value of the bento.” Makoto explains slightly sad at the memory of his first cooking attempt. He couldn’t take all the credit for this. It wasn’t right. 

“Of course it doesn’t! You took the time to do something for me and got hurt in the process, getting a little help could never take the value away!” Rei exclaims upset that Makoto would think such a thing. Rei pulls Makoto’s hands closer and kisses them gently. “I would have rather you stop when you got the first cut though.” Rei admits with a small sigh. Makoto just chuckles at this as he pulls Rei in for a kiss. They ignore Nagisa's cheering and focus on each other. They can't but feel extremely lucky to have one another. When they part Makoto gives Rei a bright smile and bumps their foreheads together gently.

“It was worth it.”


End file.
